SAN ANTONIO -- Before you crack open another Red Bull or down a Monster or let your teenager do it, listen up. Energy drinks, even little ones, can cause big problems.
Since the first energy drink to hit the U.S., Red Bull, went on sale in 1997, sales have shot up like a monster. The energy drink business is approaching $10 billion in sales this year. With dozens of brands and names like Rockstar, Venom and No Fear, they are targeted at a mostly young and male market and use extreme sports and ultimate fighting stars and models. But there is a down side to this boom.
"He drank a 6-pack of Red Bull one day, and he had to go to the hospital cause his heart was beeping too fast," one young man told us.
At the UT Health Science Center, they see the danger growing along with the number of calls to their
South Texas Poison Center.
Doctor Miguel Fernandez runs the call center. Fernandez told News 4 WOAI callers are complaining about chest pain, nausea, vomiting and agitation. He said more people wind up in emergency rooms with rapid or irregular heartbeats. They could even develop seizures. Those are extreme cases where people have usually had way too many of the drinks.
The problem is, people don't realize how much caffeine can be in them. Levels aren't usually listed and widely vary. A Red Bull or Five Hour Energy Shot each has about 80 milligrams, like a strong cup of coffee. That's more than twice what's in a can of Coke. But some have 260 milligrams of caffeine. That's close to 8 times what's in a Coke. Other drinks boast of even more.
What may be the scariest discovery we made has to do with a UT Health Science Center review of calls to the poison center hotline.
"About 26% of those calls were kids under the age of 13, and two-thirds of those were under the age of 5," Dr. Fernandez said.
Drink makers point out caffeine's been huge for hundreds of years in coffee, tea, and sodas. Of course, in moderation, it's safe. But because of problems some people have experienced, more experts are calling for the FDA to regulate the caffeine in energy drinks.
